March 2011

August 2010

08/30/2010

For those of you using Inventor 2011, Service Pack 1 was released Friday (Aug. 27). Head over to our Services & Support page to download the Service Pack and read the Readme to see all the issues that have been addressed by this service pack.

08/24/2010

As many of you know I took six weeks off this summer (hence the light blog posting) and Jay was kind enough to post some goodies for you while I was gone (Thanks Jay). Now that I am back I plan on getting back into it and getting some content posted for you all.

Since most of you like tips the most, that is what I thought I would start with. Once in a while I will need to create an extrusion with lots of holes or a certain shape that aren't pattern-able. If you look at the following image you would need to select 13 open profiles to do an extrusion cut. Imagine if you had many more than 13 and it would be a huge pain to select all the open profiles.

A little trick I use it to select the outer region and do an Intersect Extrusion so I only have to select one profile. Inadvertently if I try to select all the open profiles I miss-pick and have to start over so this save me lots of time.

Start the Extrude command and select the outer area as highlighted.

From there you can use the Extrude dialog box or Heads Up Display (HUD) to choose Intersect instead of Cut. Make sure you have the right direction and termination and select OK to finish the cut.

I hope that helps out next time you need to create an extrusion of many profiles that can't be patterned or mirrored.

08/17/2010

Well, Sean Dotson & Neil Munro have done it again... the release of version 5 of their popular iPropWiz addin for Inventor is imminent so I thought I would point out a few things about it for those of you who may not be aware of just how powerful a tool this little gem is.

Essentially iPropWiz allows users to better control and manage Inventor's iProperties... you know, all those data fields which are accessed via Properties for Inventor data files? iPropWiz replaces the built in Inventor iProperties dialog, and then enables users to define not only those iProperties to see and edit, but also to modify the manner in which they are presented to the user.

iProperties themselves can be renamed with more identifiable names, iProperty values can be predefined, enabling users to select from a formatted list of anything from vendors to material finishes. iProperties can also now make use of expressions that utilize model parameters and physical properties like mass and extents.

iPropWiz v5 will run on both Autodesk Inventor 2010 & 2011 in both 32bit and 64bit environments. Additionally, users of v2009 can quickly and easily convert their lists and configurations to the v5 format.

If you're interested, and you should be, you can take a look at all of the features of iPropWiz over at http://www.ipropwiz.com.

08/02/2010

Greetings all... Jay Tedeschi here filling in for Garin while he is away. Yeah, I know, I miss him already too, but hopefully I will be able to impart some nuggets of wisdom that you will all find valuable. First one has to do with the behavior of Inventor when working with Non-Inventor .dwg files. Yeah, those.

Initially, support for .dwg files was intended to allow users to take profile geometry and use that to create sketches for parts. Along the way, this workflow got a huge shot in the arm with the release on Labs of the 2d/3d tool.

Following a somewhat parallel development arc, AutoCAD's 3D modeling capabilities have grown by leaps an bounds and it occurred to me that while there is direct support for Fusion's .dwg models, the default behavior for working with AutoCAD (or "Non-Inventor") .dwg files is still "Open" which supports the sketch based workflow described above.

If the .dwg file in question is a solid model there is an alternate workflow which will allow you to open the solid and save it as an .ipt file. First, the open file type should be set to "AutoCAD Drawings (*.dwg)"...

At this point, select the .dwg file in question, then select the "Options" button and switch the behavior from "Open" to "Import"...

As a result of this the AutoCAD solid will open in the part modeling environment and can then be saved as an .ipt file. If you want to change Inventor's default behavior when working with AutoCAD .dwg files you can set it to "Import", however the location of this setting is not exactly what could be considered "discoverable". Go to Tools/Applications Options and then select the "Drawing" tab.

About 1/3rd down the page you will find the settings which control the default file type for Drawing Manager, e.g., .idw vs .dwg, and right below that is the default "Non-Inventor DWG File" behavior...

That's it! Just keep in mind that if you want to bring in AutoCAD 2D geometry and use it as a sketch, you will have to use the Options button and set the behavior to "Open". Hope this was informative, I welcome your comments and look forward to talking with you again soon.